Blank Gem
by Galaxy Knight
Summary: It's time...Rose Quartz is about to have her baby, and there are a few things she wants to say to the gems before she goes. And they have something to tell her as well...


"AH!"

A large woman was lying on her bed in the middle of the room, her long flowing pink hair cascading over the sides, clutching her stomach in pain. Her name was Rose Quartz…and her time had come. She knew it was coming, but she didn't want it to end so quickly she had to see-

"Rose!"

Ah, there he was, her loving husband Greg running down the stairs faster than she had ever seen him run before. He came to her side and held her hand lovingly in both of his.

"Rose, I heard you screaming, what's wrong?" He asked her

She gave him a sad smile and grunted a bit. "It's time honey."

He gasped. "No! No it can't be, not yet! I wanted a bit more time with you. Just a few last memories before you-"

Greg choked on his own tears, he couldn't even say it. It was bad enough that his wife was dying way earlier than he wanted, but he felt like he was responsible for all this happening. Rose told him otherwise, but the doubt never left his mind and even now Rose could feel it on his conscience.

She put her hand in his chin and looked up at him with small tears in her eyes. "Oh Greg, we've already made so many great memories together. Don't let this be a negative one."

"But, but I-"

She put a finger over his mouth. "Shh, I chose this path Greg. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I took this on and I don't regret a single moment of it; everything we've been through together…I wouldn't trade it for anything in the universe."

Greg wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to calm himself down. "Yeah…we did have some great times together, didn't we?"

She smiled at him. "The best."

Another contraction hit and Rose was grunting in pain again. Greg stood by her side, holding her hand and trying to calm her down as much as he could; it was a long night, and things were far from over yet.

After who knows how long the nearby warp pad whirred to life and the crystal gems appeared, they looked war torn with tons of cuts and bruises across their body; hair messy and tangled, and Garnet's trademark glasses where cracked in the middle.

"Rose!" They all quickly took notice of their friend's condition and rushed over to her. "What's happening?"

"The bay's coming." Greg said plainly.

They all had a look of shock on their faces.

"What? No! It shouldn't be ready for at least another week or so!" Pearl stated in an outrage.

Rose gave a small laugh. "Ten days early?" She patted her belly a bit. "You're a special little guy aren't you? I can feel it."

Garnet stepped forward and took a spot at Roses side. "Rose, there's something we need to tell you-"

"No, actually, there's something I need to tell all of you." She grunted. "And in this case I think it takes precedence."

They all nodded in agreement.

"I've been preparing myself for this moment, I didn't want to leave my child without a mother…but I know that as long as he's in your hands he will be safe and loved more than I could possibly hope."

"I have a few last words I want you all to hear. Amethyst, you're first."

The small purple girl stepped forward; Rose grabbed her hand and held it tightly.

"I want you to know, I always thought the world of you. I don't care what anybody else said and neither should you; you were never a reject in my eyes and I want you to never think of yourself like that again."

She nodded. "O-okay."

"I want you spend everyday loving yourself, loving what you are and what you're capable of, doing what you love doing, and loving the people who are closest to you. Make the most out of your life and you will never be forgotten."

Rose let go and Amethyst stepped back, holding on to Pearl for support and trying to stop from going hysterical.

Then she turned her head to Greg. "I already spoke with you a little bit but I want to reiterate my point; I love you in a way I have never loved another being. You are unique Greg Universe, and despite what you may think of yourself I chose to spend the rest of my life with you because I thought you were the most amazing human being on Earth."

She forced herself up a bit and put her hand on his chin. "From this day forward I do not want you blaming yourself for what happens here, if I have to give up my life so that someone else may live…I am proud to do it knowing that it will be our son. And I'm positive you'll make every one of his day's special."

Greg was openly weeping at this point, he tried to hold back his emotion but Rose pulled him in for one final goodbye kiss. It was short, but it conveyed the scene in front of him perfectly, and it would certainly be a feeling he would not forget soon.

Rose lied back down and turned her attention to Pearl. "Pearl…"

The tall woman stepped forward and put both her hands on Rose's arm.

"Tall, white, perfect Pearl."

Pearl felt her throat clutch up with all her sobbing.

"I'll never forget the day that we stood side by side together; you gave up everything you had known, your friends family and home, just to stay with me."

Pearl wiped away the tears from her eyes. "At that moment home was wherever I got to be with you, and it still is."

Rose smiled. "So devoted. Please don't hold any ill will towards Greg for this, he would never wish in a thousand years for me to leave like this and I know neither would you. I want you to remain the strong, caring, sensitive, and fiercely intelligent gem I met all those millennium ago."

Pearl nodded.

"You'll be able to look after Steven while I'm gone right?"

Pearl gripped slightly harder on Rose's arm. "I swear by every star in the cosmos I won't let anything happen to that boy."

"That's all I wanted to hear." Rose turned her head and saw Garnet standing as stoic as ever, but she knew that deep inside she was hurting badly.

"Garnet, come here…"

Garnet stepped forward and put her hand on Rose's stomach.

"Take off your glasses; I want to look you in the eyes for this."

Granting her wish Garnet removed her glasses and revealed her three eyes, all of which were stained red and barely able to hold back the tears.

"Beautiful…" Rose said wistfully. "I still remember when you were just two gems."

Garnet nodded.

"You're love for each other was so strong; the day that you told me that you were planning on fusing together permanently I thought to myself 'no two souls have ever been more beautifully woven together'."

Garnet gave a low smile.

"Now look at you; you've become one of the greatest and strongest gems I know with a great big heart to match. I know you'll be a great caretaker for him."

Garnet simply nodded, then she reached into her back pocket and put something in her clenched fist.

"Rose, from all of us, we want you to have this as a final farewell present."

Rose was curious. "What is it?"

"Put out your hands."

Rose lifted up her hands and Garnet put her clenched fist on Rose's palms, never letting go of the object.

"Can you please tell me what-"

"Just promise me you won't look at it, and that you'll hold it close to your heart."

Rose was curious what this thing was, but she knew to always trust Garnet so she abided by her wishes and took the thing without looking and placed her clenched fist above her heart. "I promise."

The talking was done and Garnet put her glasses back on, the room was silent as Rose's pain began to fade away; it was a relief, but also a sad reminder that her time was growing shorter.

"Garnet…"

Garnet looked down at Rose, wondering what she needed.

"Can you see him…"

"What?"

"Steven…can you see him…in your visions?"

Garnet looked inside herself, and she did see images of the boy, images of the future and what may or may not come to pass.

"Yes…"

"What's he like?"

Garnet smiled. "He will be strong…stronger than any gem I've ever seen and capable of so many amazing feats. He'll look like his dad, but the way he acts…he'll wear his heart on his sleeve just like his mom. You would be very proud of him."

Rose laughed a bit and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I bet I would." Suddenly Rose saw her physical form begin to fade and she knew her time was up. "This is it…goodbye my friends… I'll be waiting for you."

Rose's body was engulfed in heavenly light, her body began to lift up into the air and her energy began to lose its original shape.

Pearl stood there silently with one thought in her mind. _"Please…just this once."_

The energy began to expand slowly and then in a second it all contracted and…two gems fell onto the bed, each one perfectly identical to each other.

The gems stared at this and suddenly their fears were alleviated and their grim looks were replaced with ones of absolute joviality. They all began laughing like mad women.

Greg looked at them with confusion. "Why are you laughing? What the hell is so funny about what just happened?"

Pearl put her hands on Greg's shoulders with a giant grin on her face. "Greg, don't you see it?"

Greg looked at the table where now the two gems sat. It took him a second to realize it in his grief stricken state, but then he saw it…

Suddenly, the two gems on the bed glowed and two forms popped out of them. One of them was Rose who had disappeared just a moment ago, but the other one in her lap was a baby… a beautiful baby boy with a tuft of black curly hair.

"Waaaaah!" He cried out.

Rose seemed shocked to be here. "What?" But then she looked down at the little bundle in her lap and immediately swooped him up in her arms, it was her son and she couldn't help but be overwhelmed. "Steven…"

"Rose!" Greg cried out, he was laughing heartily as well. "I can't believe it! You're back baby!"

She smiled at him "I…I am! I have no idea but-" She examined the gem in her son's stomach; it was exactly identical to hers in every way, even its glow felt the same.

She knew that her friends had done something to make this possible and for that she was incredibly grateful. "How did you-"

"Zirconia." Garnet answered simply

Rose gasped. "But… I thought all of that was sent away."

Amethyst accentuated their battle scars. "Where do you think we went for five days? And why do you think we're so jacked up like this?"

"You…you all risked your lives for me?"

They all smiled. "We would risk a thousand lives for you Rose." Pearl said.

Greg stepped forward and spoke up. "Um…sorry, magically inexperienced guy here, what the heck is Zirconia?"

Rose turned to him. "Honey, Zirconia was a rare sentient mineral that grew back on the gem world. For a while we saw it as harmless because it had no life essence in the stone, but it was discovered later that if other gems came into contact with it the Zirconia would literally drain the essence out of the gems and absorb them."

"The high council had all of the Zirconia carefully collected and sent to a planet where no gem would come into contact with it ever again. But, why did you-"

"We figured that if you were going to give up your energy to make Steven but he kept your gem we could put his energy inside the Zirconia, he would get your gem and still have all traits of both you and Greg…and we'd get to keep you in the process." Pearl recapped.

"We didn't tell you because we didn't want to get your hopes up, the chances of this working were…like ridiculously small." Amethyst added.

Rose sat in silence, looking at all of the wonderful people surrounding her with a warm, cherishing smile. She finally turned her attention to her husband.

"Do you know what this means Greg?" She asked.

He nodded. "We get to be a family. All of us, together."

They all embraced in one great loving hug with the new baby in the center, a baby which they intended to raise to be the best out of all of them. To be a reminder of the great things that can come from a special bond and to remind them of how close they came to losing one of their greatest friends

Her name was Rose Quartz…and her new life had just begun.

**Fun fact: About half way through writing this I realized that I was writing about the rebirth of someone who gave up their life for another and told their friends and followers not to worry about their death because they made this choice for themselves, and coincidentally Easter is coming up which is about the rebirth of Jesus. I thought to myself "Huh, religious symbolism…didn't know I was capable of that."**

**Anyways, this is an idea I've been kicking around for a while now; an AU where Rose lives and gets to raise Steven alongside everyone else. Originally I thought of making Greg the one who sacrificed himself, but I like Greg Universe so I made up some sci-fi bull instead.**

**Hope you guys like this, I worked really hard on this.**


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